Leopard Print nails: Summer colours

Good evening lovelies

Just a quick post tonight as I am rushing in the door from a sales conference and then back out again for a team night out at a local comedy club.

I loved the idea of these nails as I planned the colours in my head but I didnt like them once I was finished...

Neon Coral and Leopard Print Nails

Good evening lovelies

Happy Friday! Just to add to my excitement its a bank holiday weekend so I have a whole three days off to enjoy the company of my loved ones, catch up on some serious swatching and of course write some blogs! Tonight I am having a mini Orly Gel FX nail party with little sis and her bestie Suzi. We are going to be naughty and have a takeaway Chinese first and then I will get into the serious business of nail painting!

Here are my nails of the day...

This is the most amazingly hard to capture on camera polish I have ever had in my collection. In real life it is a super pretty neon coral orange. On all my pictures it just looks like tangerine :-(. I still love this colour so very much.. it is called Pool Party and is from the China Glaze 2010 summer collection.

On my index and ring fingers I used two coats of I Herd That which is from the China Glaze Safari 2012 collection. I cannot tell you how much I love this gold, bronze, red and orange glitter. It applies perfectly and looked as good in the shade as it did in the sun. I am definitely treating myself to I'm Not Lion from the same collection now I know how good this one is :-).

Using small 'blobs' of Pool Party over the top of I Herd That I then used my brand new Barry M Black Nail Art Pen to create leopard print accent nails :-). The Nail Art pen was beyond easy to use and I am glad I also picked up the white and silver versions.

Finally using my Orly dotting tool I added a couple of small dots of I Herd That to each Pool Party nail.

I hope you all have something lovely planned for the weekend :-)

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Freehand Animal Accent nails

Good evening lovelies

Happy Monday! I thought it was about time I put my limited freehand skills to the test and finally tried leopard print. In the past I have proudly worn the stamped version of leopard print on my nails but when on a recent nail art course one of the ladies asked if any of us could freehand leopard print we all said no. I then made it a mini mission to teach myself so I could in turn teach my fellow nail art classmates :-).

For this manicure I decided to go for the double accent nail look so I painted two fingers with NV Lagoon (turquoise) and two fingers with Barry M Lychee (nude). Lagoon is a stunning shade of turquoise and was perfection is just two thin coats.

Lychee has already turned into my go-to base colour for many styles of nail art so I am going to treat myself to a back up bottle next time I am in the city.

Using the large end of my Orly dotting tool I added some random blobs of Lagoon onto the two accent nails. I made sure they were not in a uniform pattern and that they were of varying shapes and sizes.

Once the 'blobs' were dry I used black polish and the small end of my Orly dotting tool to add broken up outlines to each spot making each one look more like leopard print. I was careful not to join these black lines up and create full circles around the spots, this look only works if the shapes remain incomplete and a little random looking.

Lastly I filled in any gaps with small dots of black polish, et voila...

How do you like my double accent freehand leopard print? I am so pleased with the outcome and I really enjoyed teaching the others on my class what I had learnt :-). Also I am loving this creamy turquoise shade!

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Another Nail Party

Happy Weekend Lovelies!

Friday night I had some girlies over for our much awaited nail night. We started with lots of naughty take away food and ended with some pretty nails :-). Unfortunately my little sister could not make it as she was at a presentation evening with her hubby, of course we missed her millions and it just gives us the perfect excuse to arrange another nail night very soon.

Starting with Samantha...

Samatha picked the very pretty OPI Dont Pretzel My Buttons as her base colour. It took three thin coats to achieve the perfect finish but she was very good and sat very still ;)

To stamp the leopard design we used Barielle Sterling Silver and sealed it all with one coat of my trusty Seche Vite

Very pretty and they suit Samantha perfectly. She is hoping this lasts perfectly until Monday as it is neutral enough to be office appropriate and she would like to show her colleagues :-).

Next up is Amanda...

Amanda had told me weeks ago that she would like me to recreate my zig zag tape mani but in a classy black and gold combination. We started with a base of super rich and shiny W7 Black

I then added lots of little strips of tape across the top section of each nail and sponged a thin layer of Barry M Gold Foil onto each tip.

For the added sparkle factor we used Barry M Gold sponged over the Gold Foil and a little pink glitter to create an accent nail.

Finally we have Jamie...

Jamie had also picked her manicure weeks ago by sending me a press release picture for the Nail Jewellery polishes from Nails Inc. For this look we started with a base of two coats of Barry M Vivid Purple, such a gorgeous and rich colour (I must use this more!)

I then created this gradient tips look by painting two thick coats of Pink Diamond onto Jamies tips and then dragging an almost clean brush down the nail to spread the dense glitter out a little.

Jamie loved this look so much that she is going to add a layer of gel over the top which should keep this nicely in place for a good two weeks :-).

Another great night ladies - cant wait to do it again

Louise xx

New OPI with Animal Print

Its arrived... OPI Skull and Glossbones :-).

Frustratingly I have to order OPI polishes from the States in order to get them for a reasonable price. OPI is a UK brand, which just makes it even more frustrating, but I have found an online US seller who can deliver to me within a week, not to mention at £5 per bottle cheaper. I really can't complain about that!

This manicure is three coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones, with two coats of Color Club Ulterior Motive for my accent nails. Skull & Glossbones is part of the Pirates of the Caribbean collection from OPI and is a really pale grey beige creme. This will be a beautiful base for lots of future artwork.

Ulterior Motive from the Keep It Undercover collection is a fantastic jelly style polish which sits somewhere between pink and purple. It is packed with purple and blue micro glitters and sparkles fantastically in almost any light. I love the formula of this polish :-).

I stamped the leopard design over Skull and Glossbones using my W7 Black and Konad plate M57. For the added sparkle factor I then dotted the centres of the leopard print with more of the fantastic Ulterior Motive.

I am really pleased I finally have this OPI polish in my collection. I am totally in love with at least six of the new OPI Germany collection polishes so I will be placing a new order to the US seller in the not too distant future!

Louise xx

Leopard print nails

Today karma is restored, I had a much better day. No tripping over, no being late, no accidents with superglue and I got a space on the car park at work.

Also I am loving my animal print nails. I wore them for a business meeting that I was not looking forward to as I knew if I was having a bad few moments I could just glance down at my hands for an instant lift. It worked a treat :-).

To create thhis look I started by painting alternative nails with Barry M Turquoise and Barry M Limited Edition Boots. Both polishes needed three coats which is a little unusual for Barry M and a little frustrating for me. Also although this is called Turquoise and is a beautiful colour it is very blue and not very turquoise like.

To create the leopard print I used Konad Black and plate BM 221. As always I experienced a little smudging when I applied my top coat. I waited 30 minutes and also dipped my nails in cold water to help set the stamping but they dragged anyways!

Finally I added a few dots of Barry M Flamingo Pink to the centres of the leopard spots - just to keep it extra interesting :-).

I hope you like these nails

Louise xx

Matching Mani Pedi

**Warning this post contains pedicure pictures**

This post is a new venture for me for two reasons. The first being that I am reviewing nail wraps rather than nail polish and the second being that I have included pictures of my toes! I promise it is justified and done solely for the purpose of showing just how amazing these nail wraps really are.

I have used nail wraps on my toes before (pre the launch of this blog) and was amazed at how easy they were to apply and at how long they stayed on. They survived eveything from a girly weekend in Marbs where my toes were crammed into five inch heels for hours of dancing to being back home in my walking boots for hours of doggy playtime at the marshes. I finally and reluctantly removed the wraps yesterday as they just wouldnt fall off!

These fabulous neon animal print nail wraps are by Nail Rock and I purchased them in TK Maxx as part of a recent small haul. They are perfect for summer and I only wish I had got them earlier in the year so I could have made the most of them in any fleeting moments of sunshine we did have.

The nails wraps come in a pack of 16 so of course once I had finished my pedicure I had 6 left over and decided to create a few accent nails and break out the flourescent polishes to finish the manicure off.

I am so pleased with this look and the fact that you have enough wraps left over to create a matching accent manicure is just the cherry on the cake for me!

For the non wrap nails I used W7 polishes - Flourescent Orange, Black and Neon Yellow. The application of W7 polishes is really good and considering I picked these up for £2 each they are a welcome addition to my slightly out of control polish collection.

I hope you can forgive me for publishing pictures of my toes - it was all in the art of blogging I promise!

In summary, these wraps are easy to apply, great value for money, incredibly eye catching and I would recommend them to anyone.

Thanks for reading

Louise xx

Pretty Little Animal

I mentioned in one of my previous blogs that I was going to use more animal print designs in my nail art and today is one of the days to follow through with that promise. I love this leopard print design, it looks brilliant with any colour you can think of and is so easy to do. Its eye catching and always attracts compliments :-).

For the base colour I used Barry M Blueberry Icecream. This polish has an amazing formula. It is almost a one coater, it dries quickly and evenly and  looks great with any skin tone. It has to be one of my favourites and whenever I'm in a blue mood I can guarantee I will reach for this polish.

I stamped this pretty leopard print design using Konad White and two different images taken from Konad M57. This look was so easy to create but certainly one of my favourites.

I hope you enjoyed this walk on the wild side :-)

Louise xx